Meet the team

Recognise Bank’s leadership team is made up of highly talented individuals with a wide range of exceptional experience. Get to know them below, and if you like what you see, why not check out our live vacancies?

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165 years and counting

That’s how many collective years of financial services experience our executive team has.

You’re in safe hands with us.

Our Leadership Team

Simon Bateman

Chief Executive Officer
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Marina Gosling

Chief Financial Officer
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James Royle

Chief Risk Officer
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Georgina Behrens

General Counsel, Company Secretary, MLRO
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Mark Bampton

Chief Commercial Officer
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Ronelle Arbib

Chief Operating Officer
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Tricia Halpin

Chief People Officer
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Sahil Thapa

Chief Technology Officer
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Our Non-Executive Team

Steve Pateman

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Simon Wainwright

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Richard Gabbertas

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Alison Tattersall

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Greg Jones

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Suzanne Clark

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Garry Stran

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Christopher Kraft

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Ruth Parasol

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1Currently, only LLPs and Limited Companies can deposit over £85,000. 

2FSCS Protection up to £85,000 on your eligible deposits.

Recognise Bank reserves the right to withdraw any of their products from sale at any time.

Recognise Bank Limited is a company registered in England and Wales, registration number 10603119 with its registered office at Augustine House, 6a Austin Friars, London, United Kingdom, EC2N 2HA. Recognise Bank Limited is authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority. Our Financial Services Register number is 849404 

Loan facilities offered by Recognise Bank Limited are non-regulated contracts under the Financial Services and Markets (Regulated Activities) Order 2001 and the Financial Services and Markets Mortgage Credit Directive Order 2015. Your property is at risk if you fail to make payments on a mortgage contract.

© Recognise Bank 2024

Simon Bateman
Chief Executive Officer

Simon has over 30 years of experience in driving transformational change and scaling high-growth businesses in financial services. With a strong technical background and a passion for building exceptional teams, Simon has held leadership roles at several prominent financial institutions.

Before joining Recognise as CEO (subject to regulatory approval), Simon was CEO of Nomo Fintech, where he led the technology company that develops and supports Nomo Bank, the fully digital international sharia-compliant brand of Bank of London & The Middle East.

Previously, Simon was CIO and part of the founding team at Allica Bank, CIO at Harrods Bank, and held senior technology roles at Aldermore, Lloyds Banking Group and the Santander Group.

Simon is also a Non-Executive Director at Health Shield Friendly Society Ltd.

Marina Gosling
Chief Financial Officer
Marina, a highly accomplished professional in the financial services industry, joined Recognise Bank at the beginning of 2023 following a 25-year career in some of the world’s largest banking institutes. Before joining Recognise Bank, Marina spent 15 years at Goldman Sachs, the last 10 years as a Managing Director in the Investment Banking Division. Prior to that, Marina was with Deutsche Bank and BNPP in Strategic Equity and Equity Derivatives groups. She qualified (ACCA) with PwC and holds an MBA from INSEAD.
James Royle
Chief Risk Officer

James is a banking and risk professional with deep-rooted experience in financial and non-financial risk management, leadership, commercial & corporate banking, transformation and regulatory engagement. James joined Recognise Bank in 2023 from HSBC, where he was a Managing Director responsible for the successful leadership and delivery of a major regulatory change programme. James joined HSBC as a graduate and during a 22 year career enjoyed client-facing and leadership roles around the UK and overseas, managing credit, operational, conduct, financial crime and prudential risks, both in commercial banking and as a senior risk steward.

Georgina Behrens
General Counsel, Company Secretary, MLRO

Georgina qualified as a Real Estate solicitor with Linklaters in 2004 before joining Citigroup in 2006 where she held senior legal and compliance roles within Corporate Finance and in Financial Crime across all business lines.

Following her stint in a big bank environment she joined the challenger bank community in 2014, first at Tungsten, then B&C Plc where she held positions of CRO, General Counsel, Company Secretary, Chief Compliance Officer & MLRO. She was a Board Director in both institutions.

Mark Bampton
Chief Commercial Officer

Mark has over 30 years of banking, business lending and credit experience. He has been involved in Recognise Bank’s journey from the beginning as part of the founding team that obtained the banking licence originally in the role of Chief Credit Officer. Prior to joining Recognise Bank, he held various senior executive positions in Nationwide Building Society’s commercial division, including National Head of Commercial Property Finance. Mark is also the Managing Director of Credit Asset Management Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Recognise Bank, specialising in asset finance, commercial loans and leasing finance.

Ronelle Arbib
Chief Operating Officer

Ronelle has worked in several senior management and operational roles across the investment, real estate, and financial services sectors, both in the UK and overseas and has led complex financing of over £500m in debt.

Ronelle volunteers as a Senior Project Manager for The Parasol Foundation Trust, a charity helping disadvantaged women succeed in the business world, and she also leads the Bank in its partnership with Women in Banking and Finance (WIBF).

Prior to this, Ronelle spent five years in operational roles within the Air Force – managing large teams, projects, and operations.

Tricia Halpin
Chief People Officer

Tricia has over 25 years’ experience in financial services covering global matrixed structures, corporate and retail banking and start-ups.

She started her career as a banker and covered a variety of roles both in branch banking and head office before specialising in HR.

She has extensive experience in all aspects of Human Resource Management in highly regulated environments and brings a wealth of experience to Recognise Bank.

Sahil Thapa
Chief Technology Officer

Sahil has 15 years’ experience in financial services having worked with multiple tier one banks. He has experience leading and managing tech driven product development and change programmes across customer and transaction life cycles. Sahil combines his work experience with his deep understanding of technology and role of data driven analytics to create transformative impact across customer and business objectives for organisations.

Steve Pateman

Steve has had an extensive executive career in banking, leading corporate and commercial banking businesses at RBS/NatWest, managing Santander’s UK banking businesses and as CEO of Shawbrook Bank, Hodge Banking Group and most recently successfully leading the banking licence application for StreamBank.

He is a non-executive Director at Bank of Ireland both in the UK and Dublin and Thin Cats, a specialist SME lending business and is retained as an advisor to Black Lion Ventures. He was previously President of the Chartered Banker Institute.

Steve took up the role of Chair (subject to regulatory approval) at Recognise Bank in November 2024, having served as an Investor Non-Executive Director since January 2024.

Simon Wainwright

Simon Wainwright holds the position of MD for the UK and Ireland, as well as COO for Europe, Middle East, and Africa at global reinsurer Reinsurance Group of America (RGA). Prior to this role, he occupied senior positions at HSBC, including CEO of HSBC Ireland, Head of Business Banking for the UK, and COO of Corporate and Structured Finance.

Additionally, Simon serves as a Non-Executive Director (NED) of National Counties Building Society. Within Recognise Bank Limited, he chairs the Recognise Risk Committee and is a member of the Nomination Committee.

Richard Gabbertas

Richard Gabbertas, who joined KPMG in 1980 and later became a partner in 1995, brings extensive expertise in financial services to Recognise Bank. Throughout his career, he led KPMG’s Regional Financial Services Practice, offering audit and advisory services to a wide spectrum of institutions within the sector. Richard’s deep understanding of banking regulation has contributed to his significant role.

Currently, Richard chairs the Audit Committee at Recognise Bank and is also a member of the Risk Committee. He is also Recognise Bank’s Consumer Duty Champion.

Alison Tattersall

Alison is a customer focused leader, with a breadth of financial services experience, having headed up commercial marketing teams across the Barclays Group. This includes leading both business and corporate marketing, together with the b2b Barclaycard payments business.

Alison is now Non-Executive Director, Consumer Duty Board Champion and RemCo Chair at the Stafford Building Society, a mutual providing a range of mortgage and savings solutions.

In addition to her financial services experience, Alison is a Non-Executive Director at University Hospital Southampton, a large NHS teaching hospital, and a Trustee of The People’s Dispensary for Sick Animals (PDSA), a charity with veterinary hospitals across the UK providing care for sick and injured pets. 

Alison brings strong commercial marketing, digital transformation and customer experience to the Recognise Board. She is committed to delivering for customers, and is delighted to be joining a business focused on serving the SME market.

Greg Jones
Greg has gained extensive experience in corporate, commercial, business, credit and risk across both NatWest and RBS over a 30-year career. He led the RBS Corporate and Commercial Business across the UK, before moving to Cynergy Bank, where he led Property Finance, Commercial and Bridging teams as SMF 6, before being appointed Chief Operating Officer, SMF 24. Greg has significant experience in the 'challenger' market through leadership, committee, advisory and Board roles. Greg is passionate about the environment – leading delivery of ISO140001 for Cynergy Bank and a champion for change. Greg is also Non-Executive Chair of Deploy Capital and a Trustee of the Chartered Banker Institute.
Suzanne Clark

Suzanne has enjoyed a long executive career in internal audit and risk management in financial services. She is a Chartered Accountant and has held a senior role at the Bank of England along with Chief Internal Auditor roles at the Yorkshire Building Society and the investment bank, Peel Hunt.

She is also a Non-Executive Director at HBL Bank UK, a specialist bank serving the South Asian diaspora and The Exeter, a mutual life and general insurer. She was previously a Non-Executive Director at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust.

Garry Stran

Garry is a financial services professional who has held several executive, non-executive and advisory roles across listed, state-owned, private equity-backed, mutual and family-owned businesses. 

Garry has held senior executive positions at Nationwide Building Society and PCF Bank, where he played a key role in supporting their rapid growth plans. Garry previously served as a Non-Executive Director at Computershare Loan Services Ltd and is currently an Independent Non-Executive Director of WH Ireland PLC.

Garry has a depth of knowledge in cultural change, credit risk management and operational transformation.

Christopher Kraft

Christopher is Chief Commercial Officer at atomos (formerly Sanlam Wealth), a position he has held since March 2022. Previously, he was Chief Operating Officer of True Potential LLP, a financial service and technology firm servicing the IFA market in the UK. Prior to joining True Potential LLP in 2019, Christopher spent 10 years at Perella Weinberg Partners, a leading global independent investment banking firm, covering the wealth and asset management market in the UK and Europe. Christopher started his career at Lehman Brothers in London.

Christopher holds a Master’s Degree from École Supérieure de Commerce de Paris (ESCP Business School).

Christopher joined Recognise as an Investor Non-Executive Director in November 2024.

Ruth Parasol

Ruth Parasol is a distinguished global entrepreneur and savvy investor with a remarkable self-made portfolio exceeding $1 billion. Leading an international team in Real Estate, Asset Management, and Private Equity, Ruth embarked on her entrepreneurial journey after law school in 1993, swiftly becoming a pioneer in Fintech and Gaming, including software development in India by 1995.

In 2005, Ruth made history, guiding Party Gaming Plc to a monumental IPO on the LSE FTSE 100 as the world’s largest online poker room. Beyond business, Ruth passionately advocates for women’s advancement in science and technology. As Principal Benefactress of The Parasol Foundation Trust, she has committed over £40 million since 2004 to champion this cause globally. Within Recognise Bank she holds the position of Alternate Investor Non-Executive Director.